Chapter Seven
Lily, sometimes, wished she had another child. Part of her begged for it, a son or daughter that she could bond with and find all the things she couldn't find in Harry. A child that's sweet, without a bloody imagination and without anything strange about them. Part of her was scared she'd just have another child like Harry, if she was simply a bad mum and she'd just raise another child who liked to collect bones and another child to sent to a psychologist.
Dr. Bates had once told her it wasn't her fault that Harry was the way he was. "Consider it a mutation." He said. "Harry's oddities do not stem from you or your husband, otherwise he likely never would've been born." He chuckled. "No, Mrs. Potter, what makes him different is, very simply, a mutation of what his parents gave to make him."
She wasn't entirely sure. It didn't remove her fear. She lied to her husband and slipped herself doses of an Anti-Pregnancy Potion every morning, vials prepared by her dear friend Severus who offered no judgment, only worry and an attempt to help. Lily didn't know what she would do without him. Her husband didn't approve of him and she was never able to even introduce him to her son, but he was her closest friend.
Severus had written to her after first meeting Harry, questioning why he preserved organs. She had kept much about her son from him, but she couldn't bring herself to lie when asked. Not to her dear Severus. She explained as much as she could in a letter. They'd met up in Diagon Alley, where she cried and told him she wished she could make Harry better. She wished she could be like James and Sirius, and Remus, who were all so welcoming of Harry and so loving without any hesitation or worry. She wished she could just not be so scared, or at least knew what, exactly, she was so scared of.
"Lily, it isn't your fault." Severus told her. "You mustn't blame yourself."
"I feel like it is." She said. "He's my son. Where did I go so wrong that he likes killing things?" Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were stinging, her sleeves wet with tears and snot. "I'm his mother, I should've been able to tell what was wrong immediately. It was by pure accident I had learned. Severus, imagine how much worse things would be if I hadn't just happened to go into his room?"
"Things that could've happened don't concern the present, or the future." Severus said. "Just look to the years ahead, to making sure he grows into a good wizard. You're a wonderful mother, Lily, you shouldn't be so scared."
"I'm scared he's going to kill someone." Lily whispered. "Or just hurt them. No one else seems to think about what he might do. They just think he's a brilliant little boy. Sirius bought him these charts of the human body years ago, and he dissects cadavers and this dead little animals…Sirius puked, once, and Harry didn't even care. He was too busy cutting into a dead puppy. A puppy!" She wiped at her cheeks again, feeling tears begin to drip again.
Severus comforted her and took her home to the cottage in Godric's Hollow, telling her not to hesitant to come to him for anything about Harry. "I'm his professor and Head of House. I'll keep an eye on him." He promised. It did make Lily feel better.
In November, things happened.
Mrs. Norris and a Hufflepuff girl were found dead. Lily was always half-expecting news of missing familiars to reach them at some point, she couldn't bring herself to be surprised at hearing of the brutal murder of Filch's familiar. But the girl. Her name was Abigail Bishop, a muggleborn whose parents probably never imagined they would lose their child in such a sudden way.
"Do you think Harry killed the girl?" Lily asked James. "But how? I made sure he didn't pack any of his…" She struggled. "Medical kits." She decided, thinking them as weapons and toys of sadism.
"Harry wouldn't kill anyone." James immediately dismissed. "But, the cat, I don't know."
"If he killed the cat, he probably killed the girl." Lily snapped.
"Merlin! At least pretend you don't think he'd kill someone!" James snapped back. "Lily, he's our son! I'm going to think the best of him because I have no proof otherwise!"
"We should at least write to Dumbledore and tell him Harry had killed Mrs. Norris." Lily said.
"There's no proof against him. If we tell him that, he might expel Harry. Do you want that? I don't." James said, shaking his head. "No. We shouldn't tell anyone what we think. It'd just get Harry into trouble."
"He should be getting into trouble for this! James, if he killed that girl-" Lily tried again.
"Stop saying that! He didn't kill the girl! Now, just drop it, Lily. He doesn't have any of his kits, you said you know that. I'm going to work." James said.
James had probably thought Lily would drop it at that, but she wouldn't. She loved her son, and she didn't want him expelled or sent to Azkaban. She also couldn't stand by and watch him go unpunished for his actions. At the very least, she had to tell Dumbledore.
It had taken a few days to wait for the right chance, when James left with his friends to tool around London for a few hours. The few hours would become the entire day, Lily knew, and it was the best opportunity.
"My girl, what brings you here?" The Headmaster of Hogwarts greeted her as she stepped through his fireplace. All Order members had access to it, to be used for emergencies.
"Nothing Order related." She said. "I have something to tell you, about Harry."
The Headmaster frowned, but nodded. "Alright. Take a seat." He said. "Tea?" He offered.
"Okay, let me get this straight." Sirius leaned against Remus, raising his glass of cheap muggle bear up slightly. "You think Harry killed a girl, but you lied to Lily because you're scared she'll tell someone. And you're pretty sure he killed her because you'd sent him some of his medical shit, but you also never told Lily about that."
"You lied to your wife to protect your son." Remus corrected. "Sounds better." He said.
"Sounds better, but…Fuck, Prongs." Sirius shook his head. "Moony! What're we gonna do? I don't want Harry sent to Azkaban. He's too young for that!"
"We can't tell anyone." James said. "I just," He swallowed. "I just don't want Harry killing someone else. He'll get caught!"
Remus sighed. "We should be worried over the fact Harry had probably killed someone, not about him not getting caught." He said.
"If he killed the girl, it doesn't matter now. She's dead. What does matter is making sure he doesn't lose his." Sirius said. "If anyone finds out he killed the girl, Merlin knows what could happen. You-Know-Who likes people who'll kill and the Daily Prophet said the girl was a muggleborn. Wizengamot would definitely sentence him to Azkaban, might even give him the Kiss because no one trusts the Dementors anymore. A rumor could pop up as him a Death Eater in training and they'd definitely give him the Kiss."
"So, we keep it secret. Then what? Harry killed once, and we all know he likes killing." Remus said.
"Killing people are different than killing animals." James said.
"Read a few muggle books. They got these killers called serial killers. Like, they kill more than three people." Sirius swallowed a gulp from his glass. "They kill animals before they kill people."
"By that logic, hunters would all be serial killers." Remus said.
"Hunters are different. Do you see Harry hunting them? No, he likes guts and shit." Sirius said. "Well, not shit. You know what I mean."
James ran his hands through his hair. "What do we do if Harry kills someone else?" He asked.
"We can either make sure he doesn't kill anyone again, or help him learn not to get caught." Sirius said. "I don't know about you two, but I don't want him to get caught. I say we teach him out to dispose of bodies and leave no evidence."
"They said they haven't got any clues about the girl's murder." Remus said. "So Harry might already have that down, or just good luck."
"Merlin." James groaned. "We're talking about teaching my kid to kill people!"
"Not kill them." Sirius said. "Teaching him not to get caught."
"If Peter were here, he'd tell us we were all crazy." Remus said.
The three wizards fell silent.
"That's a lie." Sirius said. "If Peter were here, he'd probably be freaking out on Harry's behalf. He was never good at lying to authorities, y'know. Every time we've gotten caught doing something we weren't supposed to be doing, is because of Peter."
"Don't speak ill of the dead." Remus elbowed him. "Especially Peter. He died to keep Harry safe."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Sirius sighed. "He was a good man. Brave where it counted, more loyal than I ever thought he'd be, to be honest with you both."
"Do you guys think that, that prophecy has something to do with how Harry is?" James asked.
"No." Remus said.
Sirius agreed with a nod of his head. "Dumbledore said that it was proven wrong." He said. "I believe the guy."
"How was it proven wrong, though?" Remus asked.
"It was proven wrong by another prophecy." James said. "One that said some kid is going to be the Dark Lord's vanquisher."
"He also said Harry wasn't the only possible kid." Sirius said. "Besides, you'd think the Dark Lord's vanquisher would have, y'know, some innate morals. I see Harry joining You-Know-Who before ever killing him."
James groaned. "Thanks for that, Sirius. Now I'm worried about him becoming a Death Eater!"
"If Harry became a Death Eater, I doubt any of us would ever do anything." Remus muttered. Neither of his friends heard him.
"Point is, I doubt the prophecy has anything to do with how Harry is and I doubt Harry's the kid the prophecy was talking about." Sirius said. "It doesn't matter in this, okay? What we have to be talking about is how to keep Harry from getting caught."
"Just hope he doesn't kill anyone for a while. We can talk to him during the winter holidays." Remus said.
James nodded. "We'll do that, then." He said. "We'll wait then talk to him about it then."
"So, we help him become a serial killer." Sirius said. "Neat."
"Shut up, Sirius." James said.
"We're morally bankrupt." Remus declared. "Let's order shots of whiskey."
"Waitress!" Sirius screamed as soon as James took down their privacy wards. "I want me some whiskey!"
"Me some whiskey…" Remus muttered. James smiled, the mood lightening.
I wrote this chapter listening to 2 Live Crew, with my cat sleeping on my left arm. Wonder if it effected the quality at all...lmao
So this chapter is 1.8k words and I'm honestly surprised I hadn't managed to make it longer. However, the story has reached 15k in total! It seems more on here because I write notes after every chapter...I figure, after I finish the story, I'll go through deleting all the notes. But idk because I can be pretty damn lazy. I was the incarnate to any sin it'd prolly be sloth. I'm also pretty damn proud I got this written so quickly.
Peter Pettigrew died in 1981 after being kidnapped by Death Eaters. He was interrogated for information on the Potter's and the Order of the Phoenix, but he had refused to give any information. The Dark Lord himself was not involved with the interrogation, and the Death Eaters weren't at all skilled with the Mind Arts...So Peter held against them and died due to his injuries before he was broken enough to give any information. The Order deemed his death a sacrifice to keep his friends safe, specifically Harry himself, who was one of the possibilities for the prophecy at the time. You're going to start seeing a lot of pieces begin to fall as the story continues. There's more at play here than Harry's 'strange' mind.
I've got shit planned nicely up to Harry's second year, everything after that is pretty debatable and unknown at this point. I expect it to be plotted out soon, though.
I'm still stuck using Microsoft Edge and I dearly miss Google Chrome. Also, for some reason the Doc Manager wouldn't accept .docx files? I'm guessing it's whatever the fuck I did to my computer that's causing it. I desperately need a new laptop but I doubt I'll be getting a new one anytime soon. To wish for the best, I guess.